Songs in Movies...do we really need them

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I can talk about movies for long and long and long…I never get bored. “Movie Buff” has become a very common term these days and I dont know if there is a term for someone who doesnt know anything else to do in his pastime apart from watching movies. And if you think that I watch movies either on my laptop or DVDs, you are wrong. I make it a point to watch movies only in theatres – even if that means I have to watch back to back movies 4 shows. No. I am not exaggerating at all. There is no other joy than watching a movie in a theater…okay..now this is a separate topic, which I don’t want to open up now. But why this prelude? So, that may be, people like me out there, could relate to what I am trying to convey.

Cinema is a broad term and of course, like any other movie fanatic, language is not a barrier for me. I watch good movies in any language. The recently added language to my list is Malayalam. Anyways, let me just restrict to whatever I want to say with respect to only Tamil movies, bcos, I am from Chennai and my love for movies started to grow by watching mostly Tamil movies over the years. There used to be a pattern for a good commercial Tamil movie – which is an opening song, couple of duets, a pathos song may be and 3 to 4 fight sequences. And when its packaged well, it’s a HIT.

So, if a movie comes out without a song, its an achievement. Movies like AIRPORT (which had Sathyaraj in it) and of course KURUTHIPUNAL (which had Kamal & Arjun) tried to stay away from the routine template of songs. Of course, both movies bear different storylines, but as a movie loving public, if you look at them, they had very interesting screenplay and each scene will grip you and makes you wonder, what will happen next. When you are going through this excitement, if a song comes in between, it spoils the whole fun.

How many times have you felt this kind of disappointment with Tamil movies? For me, it’s a lot. And strangely though, the scenario seems to prevail even today. While on one end, there are so many new age directors experimenting with different genres, on the other end, there are a slew of regular movies coming up with the same old routine of 3 to 4 songs. And its not even like Vinnaithandi Varuvaya (or) Neethane En Ponvasantham movies, which are more romantically inclined movies and songs did justification to the content presented on screen.

I read movie reviews – almost for all of them – just to get an idea of what the movie is all about. But one constant thing I notice in all these movie reviews is this – the song placement and how it acts as an intrusion to the viewers rather than enhancement. I am like…are the directors really doing this without knowing that a song in the middle of a crucial scene would spoil the fun (or) do they do it just intentionally? I fail to understand this concept. I have huge respect for film industry – its not easy to sweat it out for a period of time and then release the movie hoping that the audience would like it and make the movie a HIT. And considering the current scenario, the shelf life of a movie is not more than 2 weeks (This last piece, by the way, was taken from another article and its true as well. Again, this is a separate topic altogther).

I am really not criticizing the directors or musicians or any technician related to a movie. The question is, do we really need songs in a movie for enhancement? And trust me, it doesn’t matter who acts in that movie…if the song seems to be an intrusion, then doesn’t matter who stars in it. I am quoting this just as an example and nothing else (I am not a fan of any particular star. I am just a lover of cinema) I had this feeling when I watched THUPPAKKI and when things were going good, VENNILAVE song comes up and I am like “Seriously?”. Sometimes we tend to ignore small things, but little do we know that small things make up a big mountain. Imagine in some of the good content stuffed movies and I don’t want to name anything in particular, as there are lots, what if the songs were not there? Firstly, most of the movies would have ended within 2 hours, which is the trend now and secondly, you sort of stay connected with the characters of the movie. Irrespective of how good a song is, end of the day, those are also part of a fantasy.

That said, I am not against music or songs. I love good music and I have my earphones plugged in all day long at work. Music is a great enrichment for me, but to have them those in the movies is like plaguing the hard work which has gone into acting and directing and other technical things involved in them. I just finished reading review for KANITHAN movie, which got released today and again, the same comments..the songs are an intrusion to the movie watching experience. So, back to my question…do we really need SONGS in MOVIES?